


The Warmth of a Mountain

by Wasted_Shadows



Category: Hotel Artemis (2018)
Genre: Crack Relationships, Hate to Love, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Non-Canon Relationship, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 06:08:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18888721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wasted_Shadows/pseuds/Wasted_Shadows
Summary: After being disowned by his father and abandoned by the mob due to his sexuality, Crosby Franklin finds himself at the Hotel Artemis where he finally learns to love himself, and another.





	The Warmth of a Mountain

Waves sloshed around the legs of the pier. The beach was silent, abandoned, no one came to the beach at 1am. Especially not here. No one, except the owner. Beneath the pier, the owner stood, fully clothed, waist deep in the water. His hand was clasped around the black fabric of a soaking man’s jacket, a man who spluttered and thrashed, pleading desperately to be spared from being thrust under the waves again. But the man felt no mercy and forced his head under the waves once more. The Wolf King watched from above the water, his gaze cold and unfeeling. The man he held under the water fought against him, but his grasp remained strong and firm. Without blinking, Orian pulled the man’s face out of the sea, allowing him to gasp for breath. His dark eyes betrayed his fear as he choked, fighting to fill his lungs with oxygen.

“Dad…” He pleaded, coughing saltwater from his lungs. “Please.”

Orian spoke coldly, his voice cruel, almost sadistic. “You are no son of mine.” He threw the man under the waves once more, unclenching his grip and began wading back to the shore. 

The half-drowned man stumbled, struggling to his feet as he rose from the ocean. He coughed violently, almost vomiting as he watched his father wade away. “Dad….” He squeaked, feeling every memory in his brain turn red with anger and fear, knowing that the Wolf King couldn’t hear him. Even if he could, he wouldn’t be listening. “I can’t help who I am…” Crosby Franklin sobbed.

*

Shivering, Crosby pulled himself through the never sleeping streets of Los Angeles. He had discarded his jacket and his shirt clung to his body, dripping sea water as he went. He was scared, terrified, traumatised by the events of the evening. His father, the only man he thought ever cared for him, had disowned him because of his sexuality. Crosby didn’t want to be gay. He didn’t want his dad to be ashamed of him. _Perhaps it would’ve be better if I had drowned,_ he thought to himself. But he was alive, barely. Breathing shakily, he took himself to the only place in the city he knew might offer him protection. Yes, it was owned by the very man who had tried to drown him, but so was every other safe place in the city. He couldn’t go back home. Crosby was a strong boy, but he was nothing compared to the might of his father. If he went home, he knew Orian would kill him, so he had no choice but to shuffle through the downtown streets. No passer-by gave the soaked man any notice, it was almost as if he was a ghost, already dead as his skin turned blue from the cold.

Crosby looked towards the sky, seeing the neon glow of the hotel sign in the distance. The Hotel Artemis. Los Angeles’ dark room, owned by his father, but the safest place in the city he could think of. He knew he didn’t have a membership; his dad would never bestow such a luxury to his youngest disappointment, but Crosby knew if he didn’t try the mob would find him and he wouldn’t be so lucky this time. In his father’s eyes Crosby had taken something from The Wolf King, and so should have been returned to the ocean. Feeling another shiver ripple through his body, he dragged his soaking feet down a dimly lit back alley upon the approach to the Artemis. The stench of urine overwhelmed his nostrils, and, in the darkness, a thousand rat eyes watched in the grime.

“H…hello?” He coughed into a security camera overlooking a door marked by a spray-painted key. “S…someone… help me…” Crosby leant himself against a pole besides the door and awaited a response, hoping someone from inside would see him, looking half drowned in the darkness. “My…my dad owns you,” He managed to muster.

Minutes past, but no one came. Crosby could feel the cold seeping into his bones, _why did I have to come out in the winter?_ He thought to himself. In the distance the screech of a siren wailed through the night, he wished it was the cops coming to take him away. Far away. Away from the city in which he had been abandoned by his father and the mob that he had been loyal to his entire life. In that moment all he wanted was for the cops to arrest him.

As Crosby dreamed of being locked away, the alley door to the Hotel Artemis swung open. It made him jump with fright and his head spun to face a towering mountain of a man. Everest stood in the doorway scowling down at the shivering wreck. “You don’t have a membership.”

“I…I know…” Crosby stuttered, or was it a shiver? He didn’t know. “I…my father owns you…I can pay you… please…”

Everest’s eyes pierced through the night, staring hard and menacingly at Crosby, terrifying him further. If he hadn’t been half drowned that night Crosby would have fought back, given all his spite and spit in Everest’s face, demanding entry. But he had no energy left, no fight, no life. Crosby coughed, building up the energy to beg again, but he was cut off by Everest bending down to point a thick finger in his face. “You don’t have a membership,” He repeated, taking note of the striking insignia tattooed on the blueing skin of Crosby’s neck. “I don’t care if your father owns us, if you don’t fuck off right now, I will beat the shit outta you and then snap your neck.”

“Then… Then my dad will fucking drown you…” He threatened weakly, feeling a mixture of guilt and fear running through his body as the words escaped his mouth, knowing they weren’t true.  

Everest barely reacted, only raising an eyebrow. “Looks like he tried that with you.”

Crosby froze. His lips parted in order to reply but no sound came out. He coughed feebly, trembling in the shadows. “T…then… if you won’t let me in… kill me… I don’t f…fucking care…”

“Oh,” Everest smirked. “I will.” Quicker than you’d expect from a man of his size, Everest launched himself towards Crosby and grasped a firm hand around his throat. Crosby’s eyes widened with a mixture of fear and relief as Everest squeezed, cutting off his air supply. He gasped for air but did not struggle. Instead he welcomed the pain, believing in his mind that this is what he deserved for being the man he’d become. Everest continued to squeeze, applying more pressure, taking no pleasure from the act. Just watching. Watching as Crosby became weaker.

“EVEREST!” The voice of The Nurse crackled through Everest’s radio. “Bring him inside.”

Surprised, Everest threw Crosby to the floor and pressed the button on his radio. “Nurse? He doesn’t have a membership.”  

“I know, I don’t care just bring him in.” On the floor, Crosby wheezed and coughed. He stared up at Everest with a dazed expression, escaping death for a second time that night. Reluctantly, Everest leant down and grabbed Crosby by the collar, pulling him to his feet. Crosby scrambled weakly as he was dragged from the ground and thrown through the door from the alley into the Artemis. He flew into a gurney parked by the door and hurled over coughing. Everest slammed shut the door and stormed up behind him, forcing him onto the gurney. Nervously, Crosby crawled onto the bed and pulled his legs up towards his chest, making himself as small as possible.

Impatiently, Everest began rolling the gurney towards the elevator, paying no attention to the damp, petrified patient who laid atop of it. He said nothing as he thrust the bed into the elevator and pulled across the bars, studying the wolf tattoo on his pale neck intently. Bruises had already started to bloom on the skin where Everest’s fingers had squeezed.  Crosby barely moved as the rickety elevator cranked up to the penthouse. He was exhausted and the bed provided the only comfort he’d felt all night.

Finally, the elevator arrived at the penthouse and Everest unenthusiastically pushed the bed out into the secret corridor where they were greeted by The Nurse. She looked Everest up and down before assessing her patient. Crosby flinched slightly as The Nurse’s fingers moved the collar of his damp t-shirt to check his bruises. She sighed at the wolf tattoo now backed by purple, feeling angry at The Wolf King and ashamed at herself for bringing him in.

“You’re really breaking the rules for him?” Everest asked uncomfortably.

“Yes…” The Nurse mumbled, questioning her own motives. She wasn’t sure why she’d brought him in or what consequences she would face, but she couldn’t leave him to die of hypothermia down the rat-infested alley. “Hurry,” she began pushing the bed down the corridor; Everest immediately took over before she was finished talking. “Into Niagara.”


End file.
